Challenges in Translating Modality Markers Used in the Iraqi Arabic Colloquial Expressions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25130/Lang.10.2.P1.18Abstract
The current paper will discuss the issues surrounding the translation of modality markers in colloquial expressions in the Iraqi Arabic language to English language, with special emphasis on the linguistic expression and translation of obligation, possibility, ability, and epistemic judgment. In contrast to the other researches that discuss modality in terms of being purely theoretical, this study relies on actual Iraqi colloquial markers like لازم/ تحتاج/ ما يكدر/ بلكت/ ايجوز, showing how their pragmatic force is modulated in different circumstances. The data are five Iraqi Arabic sentences with modality markers which are translated by five students of MA translation in Tikrit University. Similar translation difficulties can be identified through qualitative comparative analysis and they are the choice of an adequate English modal counterpart, the preservation of the desired intensity of obligation or possibility, and the offsetting of pragmatic meanings that are not directly matched in English. The results indicate that translators tend to switch between epistemic and deontic readings, resulting in the low strength or exaggerated meanings in the target text. The paper has found that effective translating Iraqi Arabic modality markers must be contextually sensitive and not lexicon to lexicon.
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